Nicotine May Directly Promote Development Of Breast Cancer
Filed under: Breast Cancer, Cancer / Oncology, Smoking / Quit Smoking
Scientists have discovered that when nicotine binds to nAchRs (nicotinic acetylcholine receptors), it may not only promote addiction, but breast cancer as well. We know that non-nicotine components of smoking are carcinogens, however, very little is known about how nicotine acts on cells to encourage cancer growth, the scientists explain.
While previous studies have linked smoking to increased breast cancer risk, they have not been accompanied by molecular biology studies to determine why. In this present study, scientists reveal a link between nicotine itself and breast cancer risk – not just the other non-nicotine components of smoking.
You can read about this study in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute, August 23rd (2010) issue.
Yuan-Soon Ho, Ph.D., Taipei Medical University, and team examined 276 breast tumor samples from anonymous donors to Taipei Medical University Hospital. They wanted to determine whether subunits of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor were overexpressed in breast cancer cells compared with other normal cells. Read more
Late Diagnosis Linked To One Thousand Breast Cancer Deaths Every Year
Nearly a thousand deaths from breast cancer could be avoided each year if short term survival rates in England were among the best comparable* countries in Europe, according to research presented at the National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN) conference yesterday.
The study** shows if England matched Norway and Sweden’s survival rates for breast cancer, 957 deaths could be prevented annually in women whose cancer is diagnosed so late that they usually die within two years of diagnosis.
When breast cancer is caught early, treatment is often milder and more effective. Survival rates soon after diagnosis can be used as an indicator of whether the disease is being caught early or late.
Professor Henrik Møller, lead author from King’s College London, said: “This study has important implications for women in this country. We could prevent nearly a thousand deaths from breast cancer each year by getting the disease diagnosed earlier, particularly in older women. Read more
Adolescent Drinking Adds To Risk Of Breast Disease, Breast Cancer
Girls and young women who drink alcohol increase their risk of benign (noncancerous) breast disease, says a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Harvard University. Benign breast disease increases the risk for developing breast cancer.
“Our study clearly showed that the risk of benign breast disease increased with the amount of alcohol consumed in this age group,” says Graham Colditz, MD, DrPH, associate director of prevention and control at the Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital. “The study is an indication that alcohol should be limited in adolescence and early adult years and further focuses our attention on these years as key to preventing breast cancer later in life.”
The study was published in the May issue of Pediatrics (online April 12, 2010).
About 80 percent of breast lumps are benign. But these benign breast lesions can be a step in a pathway leading from normal breast tissue to invasive breast cancer, so the condition is an important marker of breast cancer risk, Colditz indicates.
The researchers studied girls aged 9 to 15 years at the study’s start and followed them using health surveys from 1996 to 2007. A total of 6,899 participants reported on their alcohol consumption and whether they had ever been diagnosed with benign breast disease. The participants were part of the Growing Up Today Study of more than 9,000 girls from all 50 states who are daughters of participants in the Nurses’ Health Study II, one of the largest and longest-running investigations of factors that influence women’s health.